Hello and welcome to the Arise Church Podcast.
We are so glad you're here and want to thank you for joining us
today for the audio version of our Sunday morning message.
We want to invite you to join us in person at our Sunday morning
celebration every Sunday at 10 AM.
We are located on Old Jenks Rd. in Apex, NC.
Of course. All right, if you have a Bible,
let's grab it. Let's get into the Word.
I'm going to have to tighten this and go as fast as possible,
but if you'll go to first Samuel, actually why don't y'all
go to First Chronicles 13 and I'll just summarize for Samuel.
But First Chronicles chapter 13 Chronicles is in the Old
Testament. Sometimes people get it confused
with Corinthians, which is in the New Testament.
But First Chronicles Old Testament verse or chapter 13.
As you turn there, I want to talk about today the Tabernacle
of David, the Tabernacle of David.
And I want to start by kind of giving you a quick overview from
first Samuel chapter 4, which is where I was going to have you
turn. But in this instance, this arc
of God, which a couple weeks ago when I was talking about the
glory of God and the Tabernacle and how the ark of God was just
beyond the veil and the holy of holies, that really furnish
meant that furnish furnishing that piece of furniture which
was like a wooden box, and inside of it had all kinds of
things that God said should be in there.
But it represented the presence of God, represented the presence
of the Lord. So wherever that was, the
presence of God was, well, in first Samuel chapter 4, that was
taken captive. They lost it, they lost it.
Israel lost the presence of God, God's chosen people, the ones
whom he said, I want to dwell with you, I want to be with you.
They've been on this whole journey coming out of Egypt and
then the promised land. They have the presence of the
Lord. God gives them their promises
and they lost it. They lost it.
Have you ever felt like you lost it?
Any Christian who has been in this for any amount of time, I'm
sorry. You may be as holy, as holy as
holy could be, but at some point you probably lost him.
And maybe it wasn't taken captive, but maybe you just
yourself got distant or somehow you found yourself in this
place. Well, the children of Israel
lost the presence of the Lord. They lost it was taken captive.
And in fact, in the middle of all of this happening, there was
a, a woman who had a child. And because she had had this
child in the middle of, of Jerusalem being ransacked and
the the ark of God being taken, she called her child Ichabod for
the glory had departed from Israel.
The ark of God had been captured.
So Fast forward quite a bit. David becomes king and and it is
hot on David's heart to get the ark back.
Why? Because it's the presence of
God. He wanted the presence of the
Lord back. He wanted the glory back.
He wanted to experience what Moses had experienced.
He wanted to experience what all the priests got to experience
when they had that that that first temple, when they had the
the Tabernacle before he, he wanted the presence of the Lord
so badly. Most of the Psalms are written
about that. His hunger for the presence of
the Lord. All that I might dwell in the
House of the Lord forever. That's David.
So in First Chronicles chapter 13, David has made major moves
to bring the ark back. And in fact, after some time,
the ark of God was in, in a, in, in a certain part of Israel and
it kind of stayed there. Well, David wanted to bring it
back to its rightful place to Mount Zion.
And here we find that in First Chronicles chapter 13, verses
one through 8, if you don't have your Bible, you can follow up on
the screen. This is what it says.
Then David consulted with the captains of thousands and
hundreds, and with every leader. And David said to all the
assembly of Israel, If it seems good to you, and if it is of the
Lord our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are
left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priest and
the Levites, who are in their cities and their common lands,
that they may gather together to us.
Verse 3. And let us bring the ark of our
God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of
Saul. Then all the assemblies said
that they would do so. For the thing was right in the
eyes of all the people. Notice that, For the thing was
right in the eyes of all the people.
What was right that they bring this ark back, that they bring
the presence of the Lord back to them, that they could inquire of
God again? Verse 5 So David gathered all
Israel together from Shahor to Egypt, or in Egypt to as far as
the interests of Hamas, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath
Jirium. And David and all Israel went up
to Bala to Kirjath Jirium, which belonged to Judah, to bring up
from the there the ark of God, the Lord who dwells between the
cherubim, where his name is proclaimed.
And they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the House of
Abinadab and Ouza, and Ohio drove the cart.
Then David and all Israel played music before God with all their
might, singing with, on harps and on stringed instruments, on
tambourines, on cymbals and with trumpets.
So notice that David, I mean, he is so intense, he called
everybody together, We're all going to do this together.
And they're worshipping and they're singing.
So the Lord and they, they're, they're, they're, they're, they
have symbols and they have tambourines because they weren't
forbidden at that time. And those are forbidden in our
sanctuary. But you know, they had
tambourines just, unless someone was like, oh, thank you, Lord
Pastor gave me permission. Please, please, just at home.
Do it at home, do it at home. But they're doing all of this.
But verse 7 gives the real nuanced, interesting detail that
they put the ark of God on a new cart, on a new cart.
Now, if you know your Bible, you know that the ark of God was
meant to be carried on the shoulders of priests.
But David in his zeal and his his such a desire to to have the
presence of the Lord back, he built a new cart because that's
more efficient. It's a long journey from Kirjath
Jerium and I'm trying to get up to the hill.
So why don't we build a new cart for it?
Honestly, I think the American church is full of new carts,
well meaning people, well meaning.
I think of many people as zealous for the Lord as David,
but they have built new things that God said will never work,
they'll never work, they'll never work.
And you know, it's easy to point the finger at others, but what
things have you built out of efficiency?
I know some of us were real efficiency minded and there's a
lot that's in our culture right now that's trying to make things
more efficient. But just beware that some old
things are meant to still work. We call it old school now, like
the anointing oil it. I just happen to believe it
still works. I still happen to believe that
speaking in the language of the Holy Spirit still works.
I happen to believe that camp still works.
Hello. There are some things where it's
like better not change it. Don't put it on a new cart.
Don't put it on. I was thinking earlier today I'm
like, oh, do I want to wade into this today?
And y'all are in luck because I'm going to.
So I was watching a very popular churches youth conference this
week and teenagers. OK.
And I'm watching these preachers up there the 1st and I, I popped
in a couple times and honestly, I wasn't popping in to like
critique, but sometimes it's like if it looks like a duck,
quacks like a duck, smells like a duck, walks like a duck, it's
a duck. OK.
So. I look in and these are
teenagers and there's some man preaching and he's got whatever
jacket zipped down to here and he has no shirt underneath.
These are teenagers. It's gross.
No, but in a new cart world, it works.
I tuned in again a couple days later.
And then there's another guy who has basically, you all know,
like the the like the long underwear that you wear during
the winter. OK, he was wearing that kind of
shirt and it was super tight and see through and he's, he had to
be my age or maybe he could be a couple years younger, but
somewhere around that and he's teaching teenagers, trying to be
sexy to teenagers. It took everything in me not to
throw down in the chat. It took everything.
I'm Lord. I Lord, I don't know these
people, I don't know their hearts, I don't know where
they're coming from. But this is nasty.
But in a new cart world, it's working.
And by working, I mean it's rolling for a little while and
there's all the hoopla, there is the songs, there is the screens,
there is the smoke, there is all the stuff.
And it works until it doesn't. Second Samuel chapter 6, verses
7-8. Then the anger of the Lord was
aroused against Ouza, and God struck him there for his error,
and he died there by the ark of God.
And David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against
Ouza, and he called the name of the place, Perez Ouza to this
day. Why did Ouza die?
Because the ark, this fancy little contraption that they
made very efficient to roll the cart, didn't have to be carried
by anybody. Something happened on the road
and it began to fall, and Ouza stretched out and grabbed it and
he died because he wasn't supposed to be touching that.
He reached out and he touched it and he died.
I remember there was one time where I was on staff at church
and there was a ministry that I remember wasn't doing that
great. And I was in a leadership
meeting and I wanted to speak up about helping that ministry.
And I remember the Lord telling me don't touch that.
Don't touch that, don't touch that.
And I knew that's not for me. I knew that that one's not for
me, though I wanted to, I wanted to help.
I think it was a the right heart was like, I want to help.
But there are some things that you're not supposed to touch.
And you better be mindful of the Holy Spirit so you don't get
involved in doing stuff, building carts that you're not
supposed to build, being helpful where you're not supposed to be
helpful because it's not for you.
And the anger of the Lord was aroused and he killed a man
because of this error. God is no joke.
And that's why I watch what's happening in the United States
today. And there's like a fear of the
Lord that kind of like grabs hold of me because I'm like,
except by the grace of God, there I go.
I. Hello.
And so you're like, Lord help me to not error in any of these
things as well in haste or in a good heart or being zealous.
I need to know the difference between what does scripture say
we should approach it and what is the modern day, you know,
wisdom of man say I'm supposed to do to approach a thing.
And if you're not careful, you'll get under the sway of
this world system and all of a sudden you're building carts for
God. Lord have mercy.
Go ahead and just say that Lord have mercy.
Have mercy. Verse 9 still in second Samuel
chapter 6, David was afraid of the Lord that day and he said,
how can the ark of the Lord come to me?
Imagine his disappointment. He had made all this hoopla.
He had gotten all of Israel together.
I mean, they're singing, they're shouting, they're tambourines,
everything is going. And then you, Can you imagine
how awkward when the dude dies, the tambourine, you know, it's
like a, it's like, it's like the, it's, Can you imagine?
There's the way like you put the tambourine and it just kind of
like just kind of shakes until you like put it away.
You're like, you know, I mean, it's just awkward.
And then poor David, he's like, how can the ark of the Lord come
to me? How am I going to approach the
presence of God if if he's like this again, he had a zeal about
him. He had the right heart, but man
did he do it wrong. And he was confused about what
was going on. Verse 10.
So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the
city of David. He was like, uh, uh, I ain't
touching that. The last dude who touched that
was dead. I am not moving that.
But I think more than that, he was disappointed, he's
disappointed and I've noticed that disappointing,
disappointment will keep you from the presence of the Lord.
Disappointment will cause you if you're not careful to just put
that over there. See that's what David did.
It says that he he he took it inside the House of Obed Edom
that get tight. I'm like, what did that dude do
to David where he's like you, you going to keep it because,
you know, maybe you'll touch it and die too.
I don't know what Obed Edom did to David, but he was like you,
it's going over in your house. And honestly, you think about
it, he was like, I don't want it.
You can have it over there in your house.
I'm like, what did you do Obed to David anyways?
So, but, but, but he's David basically is like, I'm just
going to put it over there, 'cause I can't, I, I don't know
what to do with that. Have you ever been through that
kind of season? I mean, if we're talking real
today, have you ever been like hot on fire for the Lord and
then disappointment strike something unexpected and you're
like, I'm just going to put that over there for now because I
don't even know what to do about this.
I'm just going to back up a little bit.
Oh, I have been there 100%, 100%.
Do I am I proud of that? No.
But have you ever felt felt like I got to sort some stuff out
first? So I'm just going to put you
over there like on a shelf. I'm just going to shelve that
for a while. But if you're not careful,
shelves, things can turn into years, they can turn into years,
they can turn into long term disappointment.
And now all of a sudden, you know, you're vulnerable,
vulnerable to the enemy. But look at this so Obed enum.
It worked out real good for him. Look at verse 11.
The ark of the Lord remained in the House of Obed Edom.
The get tight for three months and the Lord blessed Obed Edom
and all his household. Now it was told to King David
saying the Lord has blessed the House of Obed Edom and all that
belongs to him because of the ark of God.
I'm pretty sure David was surprised, Like, oh, man, I
thought that was going to kill him.
But all right, blessed him. OK.
I mean, it's funny how this worked out.
I mean, he was surprised. Otherwise, I'm fairly certain
David would have brought the Ark of God up to the City of David
right away. But says David went up and Brock
brought up the Ark of God from the House of Obed Edom to the
City of David with gladness. Can you imagine the relief?
Oh, that's what I thought it would be.
That's what I thought it would be.
You know, sometimes it takes someone else and their journey
to reveal to you what's possible with God.
Someone else's testimony oftentimes can be the thing that
will soften a hard heart. Oh, what you're experiencing is
not what I thought of God. I thought God was harsh and I
thought God was mean and I thought God wasn't wanting to be
with me. But because I see you now, it
makes me know, Oh no, he really is good.
And what I heard about him before was the truth and was
real powerful. Powerful what your story could
do for someone else, maybe undo what they thought about God.
Or powerful what someone else's story could do for you.
Remind, you know, that's who God really is.
And so it gave David gladness. And he, he goes up and he brings
Obed the ark out of Obed Edom's house.
And so it was when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone 6
paces. So notice this.
Guess what? David went back to old school.
Those bearing the ark ain't no cart in this story.
Did you hear me? They took it off the cart.
Why? Because he saw the error.
No, don't put my ark on a cart, I'd said, put it on the
shoulders of priests. So those bearing the ark of the
Lord had gone 6 paces, and he sacrificed oxen and fatted
sheep. Then David danced before the
Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod.
So David and all the House of Israel brought up the ark of God
with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
What's interesting to me as I was really processing this,
because sometimes when I'm studying, I'm kind of like on a
journey, like I just stay curious and I let the Lord kind
of lead me through scriptures. And I, I, some of you would, I
don't know if you would be inspired or concerned about the
way that I study because I kind of like, I just, I just do these
rabbit trails through scripture and I just allow the Lord to
show me where they lead. And what's interesting about
this is they were shouting and dancing and singing and doing
all that the first time. What was the difference?
How they carried, how they how they carried the presence of
God, how, how we as a church arise church carry the presence
of the Lord is going to really matter.
If you're not careful, we'll think that it's the singing and
the quality and all of that stuff, which you know, I love, I
love quality. But if we're not careful, we'll
think that's the mark. Like that's what really shows.
That we're doing it right. But that's not how we carry the
presence of the Lord is important.
Well, how how do we know what to do?
The Bible tells us. The Bible tells us.
David would often say that he would he he wanted to come
before the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart.
Create in me a contrite spirit like he, he, he, he.
He knew at some point it the light bulb clicked and he
realized, oh, it's not all the shouting and the tambourines and
the cymbals and all of that. That is the marker.
The marker is clean hands, pure heart.
Clean hands, pure heart. Clean hands, pure heart.
And I'm not against a party. God loves a good party, OK?
He loves a good party. He loves the sound of joy and
shouting and Thanksgiving. But the marker could be lost in
all the noise. Verse 16 Now as the ark of the
Lord came into the city of David, Michael saw his daughter
look through a window and saw David, King David, leaping and
whirling before the Lord. And she despised him in her
heart. So they brought the ark of the
Lord and set it in. Its placed in the midst of the
temple that David had erect, or in the midst of the Tabernacle
that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt
offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.
There's another account of this in Scripture that says David
despised him. Michael despised David in her
heart. And then when he came back and
she talked to him, she said, oh, there was the king twirling
about and all of this. And the Bible said she was
barren from that day forward. And I've always thought we
better be very careful how we judge someone else's worship.
I think many churches have become barren because they
become judgmental, judgmental even.
I get I checked myself even what I said about the man with the
the type that the but you know what, all that earlier, you
know, I have to sort out like, what's me being judgmental and
what's me saying? No, that's not right, and things
that are righteously need to be said, but they bring in the ark
of the Lord. And so this is what I want you
to see, that verse 17, David erected a Tabernacle.
What does that mean? David didn't do the Tabernacle
of Moses. The Tabernacle of Moses was very
detailed. And by this time, all of those
furnishings, who knows where all of that even was?
And so all he had was the Ark of God.
So there's really no schematic for how the the Tabernacle of
David laid out. But for most accounts and most
scholars, it was an open tent and it had no veil.
So if you imagine if I put up on the platform this tent that just
kind of arced up, you know, kind of pitched right here and came
down and the face of it was open right here.
And you are all looking. And where I'm standing is the
ark of God. That's kind of how the, the,
the, the Tabernacle of David was.
It was an open tent and everybody was singing and
shouting and doing all of that on the outside of the tent, and
the presence of the Lord was there.
Inside of the Ark of David or in the Ark of the Lord and the Ark
of the Covenant, it was there. And so David was so happy
because though there wasn't a temple built yet and the full
Tabernacle wasn't done yet, though that was in his heart to
do, he was just relieved that I have the presence of the Lord.
I have the presence of the Lord. In fact, look at Psalm chapter
132, verses four and five. It says I will not give sleep to
my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the
Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob.
Verses 13 and 14 say, for the Lord has chosen Zion, He has
desired it for his dwelling place.
This is my resting place forever.
Here I will dwell for I have desired it.
This is David. He's he knows he's like I know
where God wants to be. It's on Mount Zion.
And so David went after it. Now this I'm I'm I'm prayerful
that I'll be able to tie all this together because David had
a zeal for the Lord that I think we're all supposed to have.
Do you hear me like a hunger for that David said I won't give
sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place
for the Lord. You know, I I, I, I can relate
in a way, though I still I'm like, Lord, help me be like
this, because that's whole nother level.
But I have felt that for our church, like I know this is the
will of God for our church, for this property, but also for us
as individuals. I've known it.
So it has felt sometimes like scrimping and clawing and, and
like commando crawling through the muck and the spiritual
warfare and all that it takes. Why?
Because I'm like, I can't rest until we see it.
I can't stop until I see it, until I see it with my own eyes.
And I experienced a level of this at our church in
California. But I think there are other,
there are other levels. Glory to glory.
There's a there's more. And so it's like, you know, I
feel like this Arise conference is part of that.
It's like it's, it's taking steps, It's just being obedient.
It's just continuing to. Do what we.
Have to do and by the way, this is me commando crawling unless I
look, you know, weird to you, but I'm not going to like lay on
the ground and do it. But you know what I'm saying?
Like crawling through the muck to get to where God has for us
as a church. Psalm chapter 63, verse 2 says,
so I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and
your glory. The Lord loved the Tabernacle of
David because there was something audacious about David
to think like, oh, I don't need all the other stuff.
I'm just going to set up the presence of the Lord right here
on top of Mount Zion because that's where he wants to be
anyways. And I'm just going to make it
work. And there was something about
that, though God didn't like the, the, the new cart that
wasn't good. But there was something about
David's heart for the presence of the Lord that pleased God,
that pleased God. I mean, most of us know it that
he says that talking about David, that David was a man
after his own heart. What does that mean?
David was after it, He was going after it.
He was that I won't give sleep to my eyes nor slumber to my
eyelids. It was tenacious.
And though he's he's suffered setbacks, 3 months, he let the
presence of the Lord rest over there because it's like, I'm
disappointed. But yeah, after three months,
his heart wasn't so hard that he couldn't let a testimony melt.
All that hardness, that disappointment.
And he's like, all right, I'm going to go after it again.
Do you hear me? He, he's not some superhero that
we can't identify with. I can identify with that.
I'm like, OK, I can hang, I can hang.
I can keep going after it. Dave, the Lord loved the
Tabernacle of David and there was there's something so
prophetic about about this and who who knows?
I mean, we don't have indication of did David.
I mean, David had to have seen some things to know that this
was really how God wanted to be long term, that the temple and
the Tabernacle were really set up as as one, one, one way of
approaching the presence of the Lord.
But there was something that David caught that was like, but
there's a different way. There's a different way.
And it was prophesying of of something to come.
In fact, Amos Chapter 9, verse 11 says this.
On that day, I will raise up the Tabernacle of David.
This is prophecy which has fallen down and it's and repair
its damages. I will raise up its ruins and
rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the
remnant of Edom and all the Gentiles who are called by my
name, says the Lord, who who does this thing.
I will raise up not the temple of Solomon.
I will raise up the Tabernacle of David.
Now I love reading about the the the temple of Solomon.
I mean it was glorious and and so much splendor, but the
humility and the the the humble nature of the date, the
Tabernacle of David. God says I'm going to raise that
up which what was that it was the unencumbered access that
people had to the presence of the Lord that even the Gentiles
will one day the other non Jews, which is most of us in this room
will have access to that place. What we see this show up again
in Acts chapter 15. Read this Acts chapter 15.
The same prophecy shows up. I'll start in verse 12.
Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas
and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had
worked through them among the Gentiles, and after that they
had become silent. James answered, saying, men and
brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared how God at
the first visit of the Gentiles to take out of them a people for
his name. And with this the words of the
prophets agree, just as it is written.
After this I will return and we'll rebuild the Tabernacle of
David, which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins, and I
will raise it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the
Lord. Even all the Gentiles who are
called by my name says the Lord who does all these things.
This is wonderful because you know, hundreds and hundreds of
years before this was said here, before James said this, Amos had
said this. And so it's still the intent of
God that he rebuild the Tabernacle of David.
Well, what is it? What is it about this Tabernacle
of David, this Open Access where God would dwell with us?
Well, I want you to look at John chapter 1.
And I'm going as quick as I can and I hope you're catching this
and we're going to, you're going to see it plainly in a minute.
But John chapter one verse 14 and the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us and we beheld his glory.
The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth. See, when Jesus came, it was
God, Emmanuel, God with us. So think about that wasn't the
splendor. He didn't come as a, a, a king
with the title, with the crown. He didn't come in on the White
Horse. He came in on a donkey.
He was lowly, Isaiah said. He was stricken, smitten that he
was. He was.
He wasn't anything that any of us would have noticed as a king.
And yet that's exactly how he came.
He came very similar to the Tabernacle of David.
Humble, humble, humble and open. We beheld Him, we beheld Him, we
saw Him. He moved among the people and
most people didn't recognize Him as the Son of God.
Most people didn't recognize Him as the glory of God, and yet He
was the full glory of God revealed to mankind and there
were some who saw him. What does that mean?
There were some who didn't have a veil over their eyes who
couldn't see. There were some who's that veil
was removed and they could see like Peter who said you are the
Christ, the Son of the living God.
To him it was that presence of the Lord was like right there.
It was right there. There was a there was a temple
at that time with all the things going on, going on, going on.
There was the sacrifices were going on.
The priests were going on, all of their work was going on that
the the ark of the covenant was inside the temple.
And yet here's Jesus moving in and out of the people all the
time. The presence of the Lord that he
dwelt among us. He dwelt among us.
I want you to notice that he dwelt among us.
So the presence of the Lord, the glory of God that we're talking
about, it's sometimes you may not even catch it unless the
veil is removed, unless you have eyes to see, unless you have a
hunger like David, who says I won't slumber and I will not
sleep until I see it. There's a connection here.
David saw something of how this would eventually work out, that
he was after hundreds of years before Jesus ever walked on the
earth. He was searching for that, He
was clawing for that. He was commando crawling for it,
trying to find it. And yet here John is saying, And
the word that came flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory, we beheld his glory, we beheld his glory, we beheld
his glory. Who, Jesus.
Jesus. Jesus.
Jesus Second Corinthians chapter 3, verse 9.
I'm just pumping you a scripture today.
Some of you, if you haven't read your Bible this year, I just
caught you up. You're just really, you're like,
you're right on track. Just start today.
Second Corinthians chapter 3 verse 9.
For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, someone
call that the law. The ministry of righteousness
exceeds much more in glory. For I am the righteousness of
God in Christ Jesus. OK, so that exceeds much more in
glory. For even what was made glorious
had no glory in this respect because of the glory that
excels. So in other words, when you
compare the two, one seems like like no glory compared to the
glory that excels, which is to those of us who are in Christ
Jesus. I wish we could catch it.
Lord help us. There's a lot of revelation in
here. So I just pray that your eyes of
understanding be open. For if what is passing was away
was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
In other words, when we read a couple weeks ago about the glory
of God that filled the temple with Solomon, the Bible is
telling us right now that has passed away, what remains is
much more glorious. Like what?
You and I have the ability, and I'm not saying we've all
experienced it yet, but what you have access to what you and I
have access to, what we have the ability to experience.
That kind of glory is much, much, much, much more glorious
than that glory we read about in the old temple.
That's what this is saying. They're explaining this because
they're having to peel away some from trying to go back to the
former, trying to seek after, well, what, what, what, what I
want what they had, but they're saying no, for what if, for if
what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much
more glorious. Verse 12.
Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of
speech. Unlike Moses, who put a veil
over his face so that the children of Israel could not
look steadily at the end of what was passing away.
Catch that he he put a veil over his face so the children of
Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing
away. In other words, they didn't even
see the full glory. They saw the remnants of glory
that was fading from Him when he went up the mountain to Mount
Sinai and he met with the Lord there.
When he came down, His face shone so much it scared them.
He put a veil over his face to not scare them.
Well, God's saying that was only a remnant of the glory and it
was passing away. And so he, he, he had to put a
veil over that. But verse 14 But their minds
were blinded, for until this day the same veil remains unlifted
in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is
taken away in Christ. Notice I said the Tabernacle of
David had what? No veil?
How is that possible? Jesus, Jesus.
And So what we have access to is much more glorious than what
they experienced in the 1st and 2nd temple where the Shekinah
glory showed up, where the where the Kabat glory fell and it was
so weighty. The priest just fell on their
faces. What we have access to with
unveiled face is so much more glorious than that.
Come on, somebody say Amen, say Amen by faith, because some of
us were like, I don't even know what that means for me yet, but
I want it. You know, because the veil is is
taken away in Christ verse 15. But even to this day when Moses
is read a veil lies on their heart.
Whose they the Jews. That's true today as well.
For those that haven't made Jesus Lord of their life,
there's there's still a veil. They cannot see that Jesus was
the Messiah. Jesus is the Christ.
Verse 16. Nevertheless, when one turns to
the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, guess
what, there is liberty. What does liberty mean?
There means there's no veil. There's no distance, there's no
separation. There's no, I'm going to put you
over there in Obed Edom's house. Now there's full fellowship.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Now most of us have have proclaimed that and I think it's
still applicable that, you know, when God's here in this place,
there's no, there's no oppression, there's no bondage,
all of that. That's true.
I believe that. But I see this also as very
relational. Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty to fellowship with him.
There's no distance, there's no veil, there's no blockages,
there's no filter. I'm not held back anymore
because of my sin. Why?
Because I'm now under the ministry of righteousness.
So listen, all of those of you who have made Jesus the Lord of
your life, you now have full access to the presence and the
glory of God. You're no longer on the outside
looking in. You're no longer wishful like,
oh, I wish I was a certain kind of way.
No, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.
Behold, all things have passed away and behold, all things
become new. So now you're standing before
him, a new creation. So now you have the ability to
come to this Tabernacle of David and worship Him freely, worship
him freely. You get to worship him in the
glory of His Holiness. That's how we get to have these
moments in church that just, you can just tell we just ascended
somewhere. We just went up.
That's the best way I can say is there are times in worship where
I'm like, I'm not here anymore. I'm there.
I'm like, I ascended, I went up the there's, there's several
psalms that are called the Psalms of ascent.
And it's like there's these songs that we go up and now
you're in the presence of the Lord and you're like in that
Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of David.
And it's humble and sometimes it doesn't look glorious to man's
eyes, but yet to the Lord. Oh, His glory is so there.
It's so there. Nevertheless, when one turns to
the Lord, the veil is taken away.
And now where this now the Lord is spirit, and where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all with unveiled face. We all, we all with unveiled
face. So in other words, who am I
relating to the unveiled? I see, I see clearly now.
I'm not blinded anymore. I was once blind, but now I see
I'm not blind anymore. I with unveiled face, beholding
as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord.
Me, I'm I'm beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord.
Or being transformed into the same image.
What image? What I'm beholding, what I'm
looking at. So imagine Tabernacle of David,
imagine everyone's on the outside and they're beholding,
they're beholding the presence of the Lord for us, we don't
have this a wooden box anymore with gold in layer or anything
like that. We, we come into the presence of
the Lord and he's spirit. So now we don't see him with
flesh and blood eyes. We, his spirit just here.
OK, That's what the scripture is saying.
And so we where, there's where his spirit is, we behold him so
many times I just close my eyes and I'm like, I just behold him.
I just behold him and, and I don't have to make up imagery.
My spirit goes there. I don't have to imagine him on
the cross. My spirit goes there.
My spirit goes to a place of worship of him and beholding him
and, and loving him and, and, and, and then this says that as
you do that, you're transformed. And then all the sudden you
become like him. And all the sudden that glory,
the glory of God, that weighty presence of the Lord transfers.
And now that glory is not something His presence, not
something that's over there. His presence is something that's
right here. And that is when you're
transformed. Because when you have to still
come to this place to be in His presence, you haven't yet been
transformed. Because when you're transformed
into his glory, Tabernacle of David, when you're transformed
like that, then you realize, oh, I become his glory.
Therefore, when I walk away, He's with me.
And when I get in the car and I drive home, He's there.
And then I sense His glory in the car.
I can sense it in the cubicle. I can sense it in the delivery
truck. I can sense His glory, manifest
presence there. Why?
Because we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror,
His glory, the glory of the Lord.
We're being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Are you all catching what I'm saying today?
Oh, this is deep. I know it's deep.
So I know like put on your face mask and go submarine with me
today. We're going a little deep.
That's OK. John, chapter 17, verse 22.
And Tim, if you'll come, and in fact, if you just be Tim, not
the rest of the team, just Tim, the glory which you gave me,
this is Jesus talking. The glory which You gave me, I
have given them. The glory which You have given
me, this is Jesus talking to Father God.
The glory which You have given me, I have given them.
The glory which you have given me, I have given them.
We as with unveiled face, beholding Him, beholding Him,
beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed to become in
the same image. The glory you have given me.
I have given them the glory I see.
Most of us, we're not here yet. And I pray in the name of Jesus
that veils come off today so you can see.
Oh, I have been living subpar. I've been living on the outside
looking in. I've been living, appreciating
the presence of God, but not beholding to where I become
transformed, to where I become like that.
And something is transferred, something is transmitted and
then I'm transformed. I'm not, I'm not the same
person. I'm different.
I'm, I'm like Moses whose face shone.
My countenance is different because I've been in his
presence, because I've beheld him.
I've taken time to to be, to be changed.
See, honestly, we don't have enough time in Sunday morning
services for that level of transformation to take place.
This beholding has to happen on the regular.
It has to happen at home. It has to what's, what's the
time frame on it? I don't know, but it's probably
more than we're doing. And there's a beholding that God
is saying, OK, you really want my glory.
You have to behold me. You have to look at me.
You know, it's like a child if they were to come up to you and
you know, you're like doing the dishes and they're wanting your
attention. You're like, you know, I'm just.
And they kind of take you and they take your face and they
steal it and they're like. Look at me, could it be that God
is? Taking a rise church and he's
taken us by the face. And he's all Look at me.
You want my glory, look at me. Look at me, behold me, take it
in. Stop rushing.
Stop. Stop being distracted.
Stop. Building new carts.
Behold, behold me, behold me. So as I was preparing for this,
it was like our foundational scripture made a whole new made
sense in a whole new way. Arise, shine, for your light has
gone, the glory of the Lord has risen upon you, the glory of the
Lord has risen upon you. How Jesus?
And you behold him, and you look at him, and you, you worship
him. And we don't have to go to Mount
Zion anymore. We just pause and we welcome
him, and then wherever we are, he comes.
Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I
am there, I'm there, I'm there in the midst.
And right there in that place, the two or three gathered, you
behold Him, you worship Him. We honour Him.
So if you would close your eyes, arise, shine, for your light has
come in the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness will cover the earth, in deep darkness the
people, but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be
seen upon you. Listen to me with your eyes
closed, His glory will be seen upon you.
I prophecy that over you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
No matter how deep you feel you're in it, no matter how
discouraged it's been, the glory of God Himself will be risen
upon you. The days of oppression are over
in the name of Jesus, the name, the, the, the days of
hopelessness are over because the Lord arises over you and His
glory will be seen upon you. All he asks of you today is look
at me, look at me, look at me. That's all he asks.
He just wants you to look at him.
Behold him. His eyes are eyes like fire and
his hair is hair like wool. His clothes are white as
splendor. Thank you, Jesus.
This is the place of transformation.
This is the place where you're no longer you.
You're the Christ in me, the hope of glory.
So I'll stand to our feet and Justice, lift your hands.
We want to thank you again for joining us for the Arise Church
podcast. We hope you were encouraged by
what you heard today. You can find
us.online@arisechurchn-c.com and on Instagram at Arise Church NC.
If you need prayer or support or are interested in learning more
about Arise Church, we encourage you to connect with us online or
in person at our Sunday morning service.
Thank you and God bless.